The Lonely Hearts Rescue is just the cutest, coziest book that's perfect if you're looking for something to pick you up. It's the book you need if you want to read three sapphic romances that feature rescued animals! All three stories were lovely, though the first one is my favorite! I'll be keeping everything brief so it's spoiler-free :)

Something About You by Morgan Lee Miller - 4.5/5

This story follows Reese, who after rescuing a shy, scared cat Apollo stranded after a hurricane, is determined to find him a loving home. Enter Hannah, Reese’s high school crush, who is looking to adopt a cat. It seems all of Reese’s feelings are back as the two rekindle their friendship.

This story was my favorite, possibly because it involves a shy tuxedo cat who just needed some patience and love. I also love that this was somewhat of a second-chance romance story, which I am a sucker for. I loved seeing Reese and Hannah reminiscing about their high school days while getting closer and closer.

Test of Faith by Nell Stark - 4/5

Here we follow Faith, who is looking to adopt a dog and ends up adopting Buffy, rescued after the hurricane (who she unsuccessfully tries to rename). When she takes the dog for a check-up, she finds herself positively smitten with the vet, Delphine. Faith and Del get off on the wrong foot, but soon enough there is a relationship being formed there.

I also really enjoyed this story, Buffy is such an adorable dog and the chemistry between Faith and Del is undeniable. I really loved reading about their relationship. It dealt with some more serious topics, mainly grief, and I think it was done very well, especially in such a short story. Faith is a bit of a mess, but one you can't help rooting for. Also, this story features fake dating which I also love so it was right up my alley.

Force of Nature by Missouri Vaun - 3.5/5

Rebekah is an event planner, and she offers to help with hurricane disaster relief. As a favor to a friend, she organizes a fundraiser for the shelter and actually ends up fostering a dog. She was entirely unprepared for that, and being a dog owner proves to be a much different challenge than her business ones. This causes her to ask for help from the shelter's dog trainer, Rory. Rebekah and Rory seem to be polar opposites, but soon both of them seem to be interested in more than dog training.

I will admit this one was maybe my least favorite, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I liked it well enough, it just had a few elements I don't particularly enjoy. As I mentioned, Rebekah and Rory are complete opposites, and Rory seems kind of overly judgemental of everything Rebekah does. On the flip side, Rebekah decides to foster the dog with 0 preparation, so you could say it's not completely unprovoked. Besides this, the miscommunication that happens later on in the story was a bit annoying to me. It does get resolved fairly quickly, however, I really don't like it as a literary device. Honestly, just talk. Please. Again, I did enjoy most of this story and the misbehaving dog was adorable, there were just a few details I didn't like.

All in all, I would highly recommend this, I thought it was super sweet and all of the animals really melted my heart. I really enjoyed all three stories, and if you're someone who loves reading about animals finding their forever homes and their humans falling in love, this is for you!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars rounded up

A sweet collection of romance stories centring around an animal adoption centre with great characters both human & animal.

Story 1 - Something About You

This first story, about a woman who rescues animals during hurricanes and a school teacher who adopts the shy cat she rescues, was my favourite in the book. I really liked both main characters and meeting your high school crush as an adult is always a excellent trope.

Apollo, the tuxedo cat, was also adorable!

Story 2 - Test of Faith

An influencer (and would-be reality star) decides to adopt a dog and gets off on the wrong foot with the cute vet at the shelter. You can see where this is going...

Once more, I really liked the characters, though Faith, the influencer, is a little bit of mess, but an understandable one. The strongest part of the story for me was how it portrayed her complicated grief regarding the recent death of her mother and the loss of her father as a child.

This also had fake dating which is another trope I always enjoy.

Story 3 - Force of Nature

This one was a little bit more hit-and-miss for me. A project manager/events planner offers to help promote the shelter and ends up fostering a dog after it is returned whilst she happens to be there, and then needs the help of the shelter's trainer with her new foster dog. This felt slightly more contrived than the other pet adoptions/fosterings and this feeling of being contrived would continue through out the story. For example, this is not the only story where a pet-based crisis causing the new pet parent to call the pet professional, but it felt more forced here. (To be fair, it maybe suffered a little in this aspect from being the third story).

My other issue was that there was a third act misunderstanding/ miscommunication which is not a trope I particularly like.

Overall though, this book was still a fun read and pet lovers and sapphic romance lovers alike (and both, I feel like there's a lot of crossover there!) are likely to enjoy this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Stroke Books for an e-ARC of this book!

2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars

I was really excited for these three short stories as they were all sapphic and centered around an animal shelter! as an animal lover i was really looking forward to reading these, but unfortunately they fell flat for me. the pairings didn't seem to have that much chemistry (except for in the second short story) and felt forced in some instances. the animal adoption stories were all really sweet except for the last story- it felt like rebekah was just keeping cotton around because she had to and you never really saw the process of them bonding. this is moreso personal preference, but I was also really let down by how the stories didn't really intertwine/overlap. I've read a few short story compilations where the stories will slightly overlap when they're all in the same universe. it would've been interesting to see the characters interact across storylines & have some more insight into the world.

overall, this was a light read that I would recommend to people who like animals & are sapphic as well and are looking for something fun!!! it just unfortunately fell flat for me and I would not read it again.

This was a great read and I loved all three stories a lot.
The part that the animal shelter Lonely Hearts Rescue plays in the stories was also good to read about.
Even though I'm not really a pet person, this book was heartwarming to read and I loved the variety of perspectives in the book.
My only issue is that some stories felt too stretched out while some felt a bit rushed. It is a good collection nonetheless and I highly recommend it to readers looking for queer books with pets as an added benefit!

This was a great anthology. I liked all three stories, especially the last one by Missouri Vann, the little dog and his person Rebecca, was both heart warming and hilarious. I actually laughed out loud several times during this story, it was that cute. The other stories were really good as well, and I wouldn't mind if each became a full length novel at some point. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and family, and I look forward to what these authors will be writing next.

The Lonely Hearts Rescue is a collection of novellas from Morgan Lee Miller, Nell Stark and Missouri Vaun. It was a lighthearted read with some enjoyable characters and adorable animals. My favorite of the three stories was Something About You by Morgan Lee Miller. Reese rescues animals during a hurricane, including a cat named Apollo. Apollo gets adopted by Hannah, Reese's high school crush. Even this was a novella and sometimes I find the stories aren't as well developed, this had the feel of a full length novel. The characters were charming and the romance believable. And Apollo stole the show, serious cuteness overload.

Force of Nature by Missouri Vaun and Test of Faith by Nell Stark were easy, enjoyable reads as well. I just felt that Something About You was a bit more developed. Overall, this was a good collection of stories that held my interest because what's not to like about animals and ladies who love ladies.

An ARC was received by Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley for an honest review.

An adorably wholesome trio of sapphic short stories. It's a cosy and comforting read.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc ebook.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I enjoyed this book it was very cute! I love how all the short stories circled around the animal rescue. The romances were adorable. I enjoyed the little plots and how they were also all so different but still came together at the shelter.

Some of the animal information was off and I cringed at it. (If you aren’t a huge animal nerd like me you probably won’t care or notice.) The cohesiveness between the three stories also felt off to me. Little things didn’t add up.

This book was a good surface read for a quick laugh to warm your heart.

Averaged to 3.5 stars, rounded up.
The premise is very cute: three sapphic novellas set around the animals of the Lonely Hearts Rescue and the people who love them. Lots of wholesome fluff.

(I’ll preface by saying it’s probably not for you if it’s irritating when people adopt animals while being clueless about the animal (I work with animals so this drives me up the wall, although I tried to put it aside for the sake of a better review))

SOMETHING ABOUT YOU by Morgan Lee Miller 3/5 stars

Reese works as an animal rescuer, and starts fostering a cat that she rescued after a hurricane. Hannah, new to dating women after realising she’s bi, wants to adopt a cat. Meet cute ensues. Turns out they both played on the same sports team in high school (when Reese had a huge crush on Hannah) and as they get to know each other again they realise their connection goes deeper than friendship.

The story itself is adorable. What let it down was the execution. The prose felt very overwritten - concepts could be repeated multiple times in a page, for example time moment near the beginning of the story:
“They would have to act quickly. If the cat tried to run, it would land either on the trunk or in the water.
“Reese gripped the net; she had to make this fast, or the cat would flail in floodwater contaminated with everything from raw sewage to pollutants.”

It also felt like the author had a thesaurus they weren’t quite sure how to use. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a specific verb, but sometimes the language choices felt like they were trying to use a more ‘interesting’ word without considering whether it actually fit with the story. Anyway, it’s a cute story if you’re not paying too much attention to the prose.


TEST OF FAITH by Nell Stark 4/5

Faith is a prospective reality TV star, in town to deal with her late mother’s house. In an attempt to get her life together, she adopts a dog that was injured during the hurricane. During a check-up for the dog she meets Del, a recently-heartbroken vet. Faith needs to find a girlfriend to make her a better candidate for the show; Del needs a date to an event that her ex will be at.

I wasn’t massively invested in Faith - she seemed to go beyond anxiety-foot-in-her-mouth into just a bit mean sometimes - but I’m a sucker for a fake dating situation.


FORCE OF NATURE by Missouri Vaun 3.5/5

Rebekah has joined the Lonely Hearts’ fundraising efforts and, by a trick of timing, takes on a difficult dachshund called Cotton. Being clueless (yup, this aggravated me) she at least has the good sense to turn to the rescue’s dog trainer Rory.

A little bit shorter than the other two, it’s just as sweet, but it didn’t have quite enough room to breathe so felt slightly rushed.

Beautiful, comforting read!! A must for pet lovers!
Real curl up on the sofa stuff!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

When I first heard about this collection of sapphic stories about animals and a rescue shelter, I knew I had to read it. Each of the stories follows a different sapphic pairing where one of the people works with The Lonely Hearts Rescue, an animal rescue that helps animals after natural disasters.

The concept of this book was super cute and had a lot of potential! I really wish that they had broken it up into three separate books so we could get more fully fleshed out characters and storylines. Because of the short nature of the stories, the plot lines tended to feel a little rushed and the conflict resolutions were almost immediately after the conflict.

It was also a little weird to me that despite several of the characters working at the same place, none of them knew or mentioned each other.

If you’re looking for some short, sapphic stories about animals with quick resolutions (and therefore less angst), this might be a good choice for you.

A trio of sapphic romance loosely connected through an animal rescue.

The adopted of a cat or dog is featured in all the stories, which is of course adorable. We have old friends meeting in a new light, opposites attracting and enemies-ish to lovers.

Sweet stories with the excellent addition of pets.

Three stories surrounding a pet adoption center. Yes please. I loved the sapphic aspect of the stories and reading about different relationships from my own. The three stories were all good in their own way but I really enjoyed the first of the three. I loved how the story started with the actual rescue after the flooding and what all the rescuers have to deal with when risking their own lives for the lives of animals. The relationships in all three stories were good and it was a fast, enjoyable read.

NO ANIMALS DIE IN THIS ONE! It's always my major concern when reading any book about animals but this collection of novellas was pure, wholesome fluff. Just a couple lonely hearts rescuing some lonely animals and finding love. If you are just looking for a cute, lighthearted read, I definitely recommend checking this out!

Three short stories all set around the Lonely hearts animal shelter, the first was the best for me about the rescue of a cat following an hurricane. I found it interesting to read about the logistics of a rescue and what that entails, also lovely to read about it going well. The other two stories focussed more on the couples meeting through their dogs, both slightly tropey of people taking on dogs without really knowing what's involved. Which did get slightly irritating by the third story, my least favourite perhaps because it was the shortest and therefore had less space to develop interesting characters. Overall, this book is a delightful easy read, although you may want to allow space between stories.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lonely Hearts Recue is a story with three different sapphic novellas. I thought the authors all did a great job and it was a very enjoyable and easy read. however, my favorite was Something About you, I'm a sucker for second chance romances. I recommend 4.5 stars across the board.

Thank You Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Lonely Hearts Rescue, a collection of three stories by Morgan Lee Miller, Nell Stark, and Missouri Vaun was exactly what I needed to read. These are three touching tales (or should I say tails?) that brightened my day.

All of the stories have similarities. They all take place after a hurricane disaster in the Gulf Coast and involve the folks working for, or somehow helping, the animals rescued through the Lonely Hearts Rescue Shelter.

In “Something About You” by Morgan Lee Miller, animal control officer Reese Shepard is reunited with her high school crush after she rescues Apollo, the stray tuxedo cat from the flood waters left by the hurricane. “Test of Faith” by Nell Stark tells us about Faith Kincaid adopting her new best friend “Pinoe” who used to be Buffy, an adorable dog who was rescued by the shelter. Faith is doing this as part of her therapy, but after taking Pinoe/Buffy to see veterinarian Dr. Delphine Wu, she may get much more than a new furry best friend. Missouri Vaun’s “Force of Nature” is a sometimes funny, definitely romantic narrative about Rebekah Hawks stepping up to help the Lonely Hearts Rescue Shelter fundraising efforts only to end up fostering an “impossible” little long-haired dachshund named Cotton. Knowing next to nothing about dogs, much less one that is as high maintenance as Cotton, she turns to dog trainer Rory Maclaren for help.

All three of the stories are well-written by exceptionally skilled authors. The characters, especially the four-legged ones, will pull at your heartstrings. The romances are beautiful with at least the chance of happy-ever-after in every tale.

I will admit to having a favorite story, mainly because of something in my life that fits with this narrative. A couple of years ago we had a feral cat in our neighborhood. Over the summer and fall we tried to make friends with him, but he was extremely shy. He finally got to the point he would let us pet him, and we would see him more often, but winter was coming and it was freezing outside. When we saw him eating birdseed from our feeder, we knew it was time to bring him in. We coaxed him into the house and he finally figured out we would make adequate staff…um…I mean a great forever family. As I was reading “Something About You” and the rescue of Apollo, our Kitty kept me company as he stretched out beside me napping. His presence made that story very special for me.

If you love tales about animals finding their forever homes and the loving couples who save them, then get The Lonely Hearts Rescue. You will be happy you did.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

**Thank you to to the publisher, Bold Strokes, and to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Came for the animals, stayed for…
- Second chance romance!
- Fake dating!
- Opposites attract!
- The characters!

This collection of three novellas focuses on three separate sapphic relationships that all begin with the adoption of a rescue pet.

Initially, I thought that there would be a tie-in from each novella, other than the shelter. Something like a minor character in story 1 would become the main character in story 2, etc…. I was wrong. I don’t think it ended up making a difference, though.

This was a quick and light-hearted read, although I will say that the first story (Something About You) was my favorite. Hannah and Reese were both extremely likable female characters (in particular, I loved Hannah’s mom. I could have used more of her!)

I would absolutely recommend this one to a friend!

The Lonely Hearts Rescue is a lovely book with a collection of three Sapphic stories all surrounding the same animal rescue. Each story is written by a different author but they all link back to the same Animal Rescue and the animals there who need love and a home. Each story leads to one adoption and the blossoming love between two women, always with a happy ending despite the ups and downs that may come with a new relationship.

First, Something About You, tells the story between Reece who works in animal rescuing and fostering and Hannah who is looking to adopt a cat. This is how, after having gone to high school together, they reconnect after many years, reigniting a old crush and giving Apollo, a cute and shy cat, a new home.

Secondly, Test of Faith, tells the story of Delphine, a vet who works with the rescue, and Faith who wants to turn her life around and become a better person (but also take part in a reality TV show) and in doing so adopts Buffy that at the start needs some medical help. (Yes, there is a quite funny Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference in this story).

Finally, Force of Nature, the story between Rory, a dog trainer and Rebekah who doesn't know how to not be busy and in between jobs ends up not only setting up a fundraiser event for the Lonely Hearts Rescue, but also decides to foster Cotton. As a first time dog owner, and seeing as she does not put much thought into this decision at first, she can use all the help she can get!

• Honestly I could easily read full stories on each of these couples and their pets but I do enjoy the short story format and out of the three, the first one was my favourite.
• It's a great read if you love animals! However I did tear up often as the stories sometimes deal with other themes regarding animal rescue that aren't always pretty.
• The first story also has one character that realises they were queer later in their adult life which is good representation. Also, some of the characters are bisexual.
• I'm also a big fan of the cover as, besides the great lettering design, it showcases the pets that star in each of these stories and helps the whole book come together in a visual form!

The Lonely Hearts Rescue by Missouri Vaun, Morgan Lee Miller and NellStark

Thank you Netgallery and Bold Stroke books for an arc for an unbiased review.

This opening of the book feels more relevant now than it did when I read it, as Hurricane Ian has come through, and the opening pages are reminiscent of some of what we saw.

This book is in fact 3 novellas, linked by the same animal rescue shelter, but all independently written. Therefore, as with a lot of novellas, not everything is as fleshed out as perhaps I'd prefer, but I always try to keep that in mind when reading them.

The first 2 stories were fine. Particularly the 1st, as it felt the most relatable to me (& this was before Ian came along). Reese and Hannah have a shared background, so the romantic aspect wasn't far fetched or felt wrong.
Faith and Del also felt natural to the story, as it quickly became a fake dating scenario and it was enjoyable throughout. This was pretty similar in enjoyment for me.

Rebekah and Rory was the novella I liked least. I found I couldn't connect in the same way I had on the previous two stories. Had it perhaps been the 1st story, it might not have been as stark, but as it was, having connected with the characters easily in the previous 2 stories, this felt like a slog.

For that reason I'm giving this 4/5 stars 🌟 Overall a solid book, and it will come down to personal preference on which novellas are enjoyed more by readers.